The Derry Civil Rights Song – 7″ Single from 1968

Once upon a time this blog was about vinyl records. That was a long time ago, but occasionally I still post the odd… oddity. I came across this the other day while digging in the crates. A topical song by a group called The Moonlighters (presumably a reference to Captain Moonlight, rather than working two jobs) concerning an incident in the north of Ireland on 5th October 1968 which saw a violent attack by British state police on a civil rights march in Derry. If you’re interested in the historical background to the song, check out the CAIN (Conflict Archive on the INternet) page here.

Regarding the song itself, I can’t find much – ‘The Moonlighters’ throws up only one reference on Discogs.com, and that’s to this same release. Billboard magaizne from 7th December 1968 says the following “Gerry Devin’s Monaghan-based Shamrock label released “The Derry Civil Rights Song,” promoted [sic] by the incidents of Oct. 5 when marchers and police clashed on the streets of Derry. It is by a folk group, the Moonlighters. . .”

It would appear they were an ad hoc folk group formed for the specific purpose of releasing this single, which was released at some stage in November 1968, within in two months of the attack on the marchers. According to Discogs.com, Shamrock Records only released four other singles in its lifespan, though the IrishRock.org says of it that it was “active from the 60s onwards. Many colour vinyl releases. Similar to Glenside Records in content.” Of Glenside Records, IrishRock.org says it produced “a high incidence of very old fashioned renditions of folk ballads, with a high kitsch and sentimentality factor, and is probably of little interest to most collectors.”

The B-Side is a jaunty selection of Irish reels (instrumental songs for folk dancing to); The Sally Gardens, The Bag O’ Spuds and The Copperplate.

I couldn’t find an upload (either video or audio) anywhere, so I’ve stuck it up on YouTube and TinyUpload (in MP3 format).  So here’s the song and its B-side. The lyrics (as best as I can make out) are posted below.

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The Derry Civil Rights Song
(1968, Written by J. Doherty – Performed by The Moonlighters)

It was the fifth day of October and the sun was beaming down
And the people had assembled to march in Derry town
The police were there in hundreds and on mercy they did frown
As they freely used their batons that day in Derry town.

They’d assembled at the station as all free people might
And they peacefully marched up Duke Street as was their civil right
The police had formed a barricade and they told them turn around
Then they batoned men and women on the streets of Derry town

Oh come on ye Ulster policemen for its you that are to blame
Oh come on ye Ulster policemen you should hang your heads in shame
The shame that will go with you though you told the wide world round
How you freely used your batons on teh streets of Derry town.

Take heart you Derry people all the world knows of your plight
And that government in Stormont that denies you civil rights
The day is fast approaching when these men they must stand down
On that day we’ll march triumphant through the streets of Derry town

♪ Random Record A Day #6: Love Sculpture – Sabre Dance / Think Of Love (SP, 1968)

Love Sculpture – Sabre Dance
b/w Think Of Love
(SP, 1968, Parlophone)

Cover (not mine)

Today’s entry is brought to you by my good friend Freda, via the highly scientific method of picking a number. I have to say I laughed out loud at the name of the band (which I’d never heard of before), but then as we found out yesterday, I have a very dirty mind indeed.

So, Love Sculpture (1966 – 70) were a hard blues rock band from Cardiff (go Wales!), which according to my research (ie, wikipedia) were basically guitarist Dave Edmunds and his backing band. Their music generally consisted of blues standards, done harder and faster than usual. They released two albums – Blues Helping (1968) and Forms and Feelings (1970) – and two singles. Sabre Dance actually made it to #5 in the UK charts, with a little help from John Peel who gave the single lots of airplay. He also gave the band three Peel Sessions in two years.  However, further fame was not to beckon and after touring their second album in the US, they split. Edmunds went on to release a wildly popular version I Hear You Knocking (yes, that version) and later formed the band Rockpile with Nick Lowe.

So first off, everybody knows the Armenian-Soviet composer Aram Khachaturian‘s classical/ballet piece Sabre Dance. Even if you don’t think you do, you do – and this is a cover of it.

I love a good guitar-driven rock instrumental (think The Just Brother’s Sliced Tomatoes or The Virtues’ Guitar Boogie Shuffle). I absolutely hate guitar wankery (think John Squire’s noodling at the end of the album cut of Love Is The Law*, or the more, erm, ‘excessive’ parts of Second Coming – ahhhh coke, you’ve a lot to answer for). And there’s a pretty fine line between the two.

Happily, this is a simply splendid interpretation of the above-mentioned piece, and firmly in the camp of the former. It’s what I’d imagine would happen if you locked The Shadows in a cellar, forced mushrooms and speed down their throats and up their noses, convinced them a zombified Cliff Richard was coming to get them, and told them to write the theme tune to their own escape.

Side A

Everything in this song is hurtling along at breakneck speed. The guitarwork is just amazing and the drums – for the most part – monotonous, yet frantically intense. It actually sounds as if the guitarist and drummer are racing against each other for dear life. The whole song is just… immense. I think, though this is something I’ve considered for the first time today, that the key to a good rock instrumental is the rhythm section – it must keep the song interesting and steady, not allowing it to stray off into Guitarfetishland or the neighbouring borough of Soundscapesville. And despite the fact that this song is basically saying “look how great I am on guitar”, the galloping drums keep it focused on just being a good fucking tune. There are even bits of this song that sound like East Bay Ray studied it intensely. In fact, it reminds me a lot of his work on Fresh Fruit…, especially Chemical Warfare.

Side B

The B Side, Think Of Love, is also pretty damn good. The opening bass riff reminds me of some Nirvana song I can’t think of right now, then it sounds a bit like Honey by Moby – eh, but in a good way – and then it goes slightly mad for the rest of the song. It’s not an instrumental, but it might as well be having only two short verses and no chorus. As with the A Side, its all about frenetic guitarmanship with a great rhythm backing.  I might even slightly prefer it to the A Side.

In my esteemed judgement, this is a fabulous 7″.

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Side A – Sabre Dance (4:55)
Side B – Think Of Love (3:01)

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* For the first time since that album came out (1997),  I actually re-listened to the full version of Love Is The Law. It’s still as appalling to me now as it was then. Despite thinking to this day that the radio edit is a decent britpop tune, I lost interest in The Seahorses almost immediately after hearing the album in full. But curious as I am, I did a quick wiki to see what happened to them. Turns out they split up in 1999 while writing a second album. It was acrimonious, with the former vocalist Chris Helme describing Squire’s work as “muso wanking”. Good man.

♪ Random Record A Day #5: Eddie Cochran – Drive In Show b/w I Almost Lost My Mind (SP, 1963)

 

Eddie Cochran – Drive In Show
b/w I Almost Lost My Mind
(SP, 1963, Liberty / EMI)

Eddie Cochran - No cover available

At last the randomiser (which is actually just my brother) has thrown up something that isn’t mod or psychedelia!  Unfortunately, its one of my least favourite Eddie Cochran songs, with a B Side I’d never heard before.

But first, what is there to say about Cochran? Born in Oklahoma in 1938, he had a short, but prolific and highly influential, career. As part of The Cochran Brothers – with Hank Cochran, no relation – he cut his first track in mid-1955 aged 17 (a country tribute to the late Hank Williams and Jimmy Rogers). By 1958 he had secured his place in history by writing and recording Summertime Blues and appearing in a cameo role in the film The Girl Can’t Help It. A string of other hits followed, and at the age of 21 he was dead, having been thrown through the windscreen in a car crash in England. The driver (who got 6 months for dangerous driving), along with the other passengers Gene Vincent and Sharon Sheeley, survived.

There are two really interesting bits of trivia surrounding Cochran as well. From wikipedia:

The car and other items from the crash [that killed Cochran] were impounded at the local police station until a coroners’ inquest could be held. At that time, David Harman, better known as Dave Dee of the band Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, was a police cadet at the station. He taught himself to play guitar on Cochran’s impounded Gretsch 6120.

Coincidentally, earlier in the tour, the same guitar had been carried to the car for Cochran by a young fan called Mark Feld, later to become famous as Marc Bolan of T.Rex and who, in a further coincidence, was also killed while a passenger in a single-car automobile accident … [At one stage] Bolan had his main Les Paul model refinished in a transparent orange to resemble the Gretsch 6120 guitar played by Cochran.

and

On July 6, 1957, 15-year-old Paul McCartney’s successful audition to join John Lennon’s earliest rock group The Quarrymen opened with Paul picking up one of the groups’ guitars and performing Twenty Flight Rock in the same manner as he saw it played by Eddie Cochran in The Girl Can’t Help It.

Brilliant!

Side A

Alas, now I have to talk about the music. Well first its worth nothing that one of the things Cochran was notable for was that he wrote most of his own songs – but neither of these two are his own compositions. The A Side, Drive In Show, was written by a chap called Fred Dexter and the recording is credited to ‘Eddie Cochran with Orchestra and Chorus under the direction of Johnny Mann‘ (quite a mouthful). Thankfully, its not some protoprog lunacy – unfortunately, its not very good either. It was originally recorded and released in 1959 – but this single is a posthumous UK release from 1963.

Basically its an innocent rock ‘n’ roll love ballad about a first date, almost doo-woppy in sound (probably due to the chorus singers). At least I think its innocent – but an uncareful listen might lead one to believe one of the lines goes “I bet my penis to a candy bar” (I’ll leave it you you to figure out what the actual line is). There’s also a reference to “six hotdogs” – but then again, I may just have a filthy mind. It’s not a bad song as such – its just… boring. It’s got none of the oomph of rock ‘n’ roll, nor any of the soulfulness of doo-wop. It seems just a bit pointless.

Side B

Unfortunately the B-Side, I Almost Lost My Mind, while a title I can definitely relate to is not much cop either – though its definitely better than the A Side.  It’s a cover of an Ivory Joe Hunter (actual real name!) song from 1950 – and the original is far, far better than this effort. It’s another slow ballad, piano-backed with a decent guitar break. Again, as with the lead track, it’s not terrible by any means, there’s just nothing there that really stands up to repeated listenings.

Put these songs up against most of Cochran’s output and they fade into the background. I’ve no idea why anyone thought releasing this 7″ was a good idea, apart from maybe they had run out of things to release. The B Side was actually first recorded in 1956, but as far as I can tell never released in the US, and only appeared in the UK on this 1963 release (and later on a UK compilation album, My Way) – so it wouldn’t surprise me. Frankly, I wouldn’t care if I’d never heard either song again.

Download / Listen – via DivShare (MP3)

Side A – Drive In Show (2:02) [note: my own record is a little warped, so I uploaded a version I have from a compilation album]
Side B – I Almost Lost My Mind (2:33)

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♪ Random Record A Day #4: John’s Children – Desdemona b/w Remember Thomas À Becket (SP, 1967)

John’s Children – Desdemona
b/w Remember Thomas À Becket
(SP, 1967, Track / Polydor)

7" single cover

John’s Children (1966-1968) are one of those groups I’d always been aware of as being something of a ‘cult’ (I hate that word) psychedelic-mod-freakbeat band, having often seen them referenced as “influential” and “inspirational” in articles and interviews about music – though mainly their influence lay in their raucous live shows. On a tour of Germany supporting The Who, they managed to out-Who The Who by going a bit mad on stage, resulting in the arrival of the riot squad. They were kicked off the tour and fled back to England. Legend also has it that when Yardbirds manager Simon Napier-Bell saw them for the first time he said, “positively the worst group I’d ever seen”. A few drinks later and, “I’ll sign you”.

Researching them was a joy – but to be honest there’s no way I could do the story justice in a few brief lines here . So, if you’re anything like me, you love a good rock ‘n’ roll story – and therefore I command you to read this, part of which was written by Andy Ellison, one of the members – who among other things says: “Still we were all now exactly the same height, a thing that was very important that year” – which I just love!

However, what John’s Children are perhaps most famous for is being the home of the young Marc Bolan for about 6 months in 1967. Now, I love T-Rex – always have done and am not ashamed of it, nor of my fondness for Glam Rock in general – so I was quite excited when I saw that the lead track, Desdemona,  was written by the electric warrior himself! Even though I did know that at this time Bolan was in his I-wanna-be-a-folky-hippy-like-Donovan phase, and was expecting the worst.

Side A

However, I’m glad to say that there’s nothing particularly Donovanesque about this song at all really. In fact, it’s totally rockin’ and not at all what I expected to hear. I guess I’d call this hard-psychedelia, and to be fair, it took me more than a few listens to really appreciate it. But its infectious – I found myself several times today humming it to myself.

It starts off like its going to be a standard rock ‘n’ roll song, but once the drums and the MASSIVE bass kick in, its a wild ride. It’s all over the place like, but it really works. And it gets bonus points for being banned by the BBC for containing the line “lift up your skirt and fly”. The single was reissued with the line “why do you have to lie”, but still received fuck all airplay.

The lyrics, by the way, are nonsense, but when did that ever matter with Bolan?

Side B

The B Side instantly loses points for calling him Thomas À Becket – which was not his name! Unless they were referencing this chap that is. However, that minor quibble aside, this is another fine song.

Begins with what sounds like a squealing car, before turning into another bass and tom heavy rocker (with nonsense lyrics, this time not penned by Bolan) . Top stuff.

Listen/ Download – Via Div Share (Mp3)

Side A – Desdemona (2:25)
Side B –  Remember Thomas À Becket (2:20)

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♪ Random Record A Day #3: The Creation – Making Time (SP, 1966)

The Creation – Making Time
b/w Try And Stop Me
SP, 1966, Planet

This cover is from a French EP release featuring both the A and B Sides, also from 1966

Apart from being vaguely aware that I have several of their singles in my collection, The Creation are a band that I previously had no knowledge of whatsoever – so after giving this 7″ a few whirls, it was off on an internet excursion to find out more.  Now I’m going to try and sound like I knew this shit all along…

The Creation (1966 – 68, reformed mid-80s) started out as 60s mod-rockers, then went a bit psychedelic, and after a few line up changes (including Ronnie Wood on guitar, his second band) split up. They reformed in the mid-80s and presumably still gig to this day.

Interestingly, despite receiving decent press in Britain, especially with regard to their live appearances – which saw, allegedly, the first instance of a guitarist playing with a violin bow, along with acts of on-stage arson – they were never particularly successful at home, being more popular in Germany. In fact, the only proper album they released before splitting –  1967’s We Are Paintermen – was only issued in Germany, Holland, France and Sweden. A live album released the following year suffered a similar fate.  They only charted in the British Top 50 twice.

Trivia fans (like me!) will love the fact that in 1996 – thirty years after their debut single – the reformed Creation released an album (Power Surge) on… Creation records. Ahhhh.

So anyway, the music. Well, it turns out Making Time was their debut single, and one of only two hits they had (the other being Painter Man, which I’m pretty sure also resides in my collection somewhere), charting at #49, though getting to #5 in Germany. Musically, this is mod-rock not dissimilar to the Small Faces, The Kinks or The Who of this period (they shared a producer – Shel Talmy – with the Who at this time, so its no surprise). A big rockin’ stop/start riff drives the song, the bass is chugging, it’s got a great Brit-r’n’b vocal, which reminds me of Steve Marriott, a strong chorus, and a tambourine.

Side A

Other than that there’s not really that much else to say about the track, other than that I really like it. See, this mission is paying off already!

The B Side, Try And Stop Me, reminds me even more of the Small Faces than the A, though that could be because a) the drum intro sounds like the opening of All Or Nothing (though predating that by two months) and b) I think all mod-rock sounds like the Small Faces.

Side B

Musically it’s a pleasant enough song – propelled by a heavy bass with a tinny staccato guitar thing going on – which lyrically seems to be about the singer’s quest to “take down” some girl he knows. So either its a revenge song, or its some 60s sex-lingo that I’m ignorant of. I don’t care either way, its a decent song.

Listen / Download – Via DivShare (Mp3)

Side A – Making Time (3:00)
Side B – Try And Stop Me (2:30)

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♪ Random Record A Day #2: The Move – When Alice Comes Back to the Farm (SP, 1970)

The Move – When Alice Comes Back to the Farm
b/w What?
SP, 1970, Fly

This is the cover of a German version of the single, with a different B-Side

The Move (1965 – 72) were a pretty big band in Britain in the late 60s, with nine top 20 singles in five years.  For that reason I’m somewhat ashamed to say that these are the first songs of theirs I’ve ever (knowingly) listened to.  And given that, its also not surprising that before writing this, I knew very little about them – other than they later morphed into ELO (boo!), which Roy Wood quickly got tired of (who can blame him?), and went off to form Wizzard (yay!).

When Alice Comes Back to the Farm, released in 1970, was The Move’s fourth last single and taken from the Looking On album. The A-side, penned by Wood, is a heavy blues-rocker, almost approaching an early heavy metal or glam rock sound, though there is a nice twinkley rock ‘n’ roll piano thing going on in the background which lightens the tone a bit. And the heavy cello breaks are pretty amazing.

Side A

According to wikipedia, this single never made it into the charts “largely due to lack of airplay by BBC radio stations. The song allegedly [makes] mild references to cannabis – “Alice”, “time for tearing out the weeds” and the last line “don’t get around much anymore”, which is a description of the singer’s condition”.

With regard to the B-side, What?, three words and two exclamation marks should suffice – “Oh no! Prog!“.

Which is not surprising really, given that it was written by Jeff Lynne (I should have expected it when I saw his name), and that (I’m led to believe) The Move’s final two albums were basically fundraising operations for the first ELO album… shudder.  I should state my bias (though its probably abundantly clear): I have a very low tolerance for prog. These days I can stomach a lot more than I used to be able to, but still it makes me feel slightly wrong about myself.

Side B

This is almost seven minutes long, the lyrics seem to be a nonsense (e.g. “the overture is burning on the faces of the people in the churches of the land”), and it meanders all over the place.  That said, the more I listen to it (I’m on about listen six), the more it grows on me. Well parts of it do – which is probably one of the reasons I dislike prog so, I get the feeling that inside many prog songs, there’s a decent track drowning in the deluge of pompous self indulgence. And this song is a case in point – the good parts are great, in fact the riff sounds like Super Furry Animals ripped it off for Blerwytirhwng? (Where are you Between?). Another bit sounds like its trying to be I Am The Walrus , and there even seems to be a male choir in there. By no means the worst prog song I’ve ever heard, but overall fails to hit the mark. Shame really, cos the riff is excellent.

Listen / Download via DivShare (Mp3)

Side A – When Alice Comes Back to the Farm (3:46)
Side B – What? (6:49)

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(3:46)

♪ Random Record A Day #1: Fields – Fields (LP, 1969)

Fields – Fields
LP, 1969, Uni / MCA

LP Cover

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Ok first off, this band bears no relation to the English/Icelandic group of the same name.

This album has been in my possession forever – having been part of my father’s collection, presumably, from the time it was released back in 1969.

Fields were a US psyche-blues-rock-soul trio consisting of Richard Fortunato (lead vocals and guitar), Patrick Burke (bass) and Steve Lagan (percussion). They existed for only about a year or so, released one single (Bide My Time), this eponymously titled album, and they collapsed after touring together.

The LP itself comes in a somewhat horrid gatefold sleeve, with the cover mixing disgusting purple, green and mustard-yellow, with a dodgy sepia band photograph forming the centrepiece. But just as one should never judge a book by its cover, one should never judge an album by its artwork. Well, sometimes you probably should, but not in this case.

Musically, this is a somewhat unfocused blending of styles, but it works. Sort of. An obvious influence is the hard blues-rock of the likes of Cream, but there’s also acid-rock and psychedelia, soul – Motown’s Brenda Holloway and Ray Charles’ backing singers The Raelettes (incorrectly spelled ‘Raylettes’ in the liner notes) make appearances – and even traces of funk in the mix. Mercifully, there are no Baker-esque drum solos and not too much in the way of guitar-wankery, and the album as a whole is very raw.

Side One consists of songs between 3 and 5 minutes and for me the standout track is Take You Home – which was the B-side to the Bide My Time single. It’s a heavy blues rocker, with great riffs, which is basically about just wanting to fuck someone. Jump On You is also pretty good as well – and one can only presume it’s what happens once Fields have taken you home.

Listen: Take You Home – via DivShare (unhelpfully, WP doesn’t allow embedding of DivShare links)

But the real treasure of this album is Love is the Word, the 18-minute epic crazy-fest that takes up the entirety of Side Two. You kind of have to just hear, as it defies explanation – at least as far as my limited writing skills are concerned. If you forced me, Id’ say its the sound of Sgt. Pepper’s, The Doors, acid-Motown and Clapton having been shoved in a blender, gobbled up and then unceremoniously vomited back out. But I don’t think I’d be doing it justice.

What I can say with certainty is, that this is the kind of thing I’d usually hate, but for whatever reason, in this particular case I love it. What it’s not, is some circle-jerky ‘jamming’ session – its an actual song with a structure. A lunatic structure, but a structure nonetheless. Plus it’s got horns and Brenda Holloway!

All in all, this is far from a great album, and certainly not some rare lost treasure. But its interesting, and I for one like it. Plus, they get bonus points for (allegedly) being named after the great W.C. Fields.

Tracklist

Side One

1. Elysian Fields (3:40)
2. Bide My Time (4:31)
3. Take You Home (3:00)
4. Jump On you (3:18)
5. Sun Would Set (5:19)

Side Two

1. Love Is The Word (18:22)

LP Back Cover

LP Inlay

Official Blurb (from a 2002 CD re-issue): “This US power trio’s sole album was released on both sides of the Atlantic in 1969, but sank without a trace. Equally influenced by blues, soul and acid rock, it’s an enjoyable mixture of snappy hard rock songs and the lengthy “Love Is The Word” suite, which occupied a whole side of the original LP. Featuring backing vocals from Northern Soul legend Brenda Holloway and production by former Merry-Go-Round guitarist Bill Rinehart, it’s a must for fans of bluesy psychedelic rock.”

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(Re)Introducing the Blog: A Partridge on a Mission

Hello everyone,

Well its been over two years since I last updated this blog of mine. In fact its been over two years since I last looked at it myself (that’s what happens when one ends up in employment).  However, now I’m back. And I have a Mission. Well, kind of a mission anyway.

The Mission – Random Record a Day

Over the years I’ve collected, via various means, a not insubstantial amount of vinyl records – ranging from the 50s to the 00s. However, I’ve never even listened to at least 70% of them due to a combination of factors; wheat from the chaff issues, times pressures and (mainly) MP3 induced laziness. But now I’ve decided to go through them all – randomly – convert them to Mp3, upload and review them.

The random aspect is important – as without it I’d only listen to/encode ones that I think I’ll like. By randomly selecting, I won’t have that option. The downside to this is that there will be some utterly shite records appearing here. I know for a fact that I have a bunch of bad 80s 7″s I got at a market in the mid 90s, when I expected an 80s revival that never happened (I’d planned to sell them).

But hopefully, in my journey I’ll find some classics I never knew I had, some that are hilariously bad, and some that I’ll appreciate now that I never did before. Plus its the only way I’ll ever actually listen to them all, and in the process – with a bit of luck – I’ll learn something about the artists via the reviews.

Of course, while its called A Random Record A Day, that’s unrealistically aspirational – there’s no way I’ll be able to rip, upload and review a record every single day.  I simply won’t have time (work, so-called social life, etc). Then again, sometimes I’ll probably find myself going through several records per day. And I’ll no doubt use this  blog for other things as well, including posting links to things that are interesting me at that particular moment – and probably some of my own mixes and mixtapes from over the years.

Finally, I’ll try to upload at least one LP a week, and the rest will be EPs and singles (A and B sides). That’s the plan anyway.

I hope some of you will join me in this voyage of vinyl discovery – but if not, to be honest, I don’t really care as this is a personal project more than anything else. Still, I think there’ll be enough great tunes to keep at least one other person on board.

As a first offering, I present the following Fields – Fields (LP, 1969).